Cop and wife on the run after killing and stealing money

A police officer and his wife are on the run and wanted for the murder of a 46-year-old woman and theft of more than a million baht in Surin’s Rattanaburi district, it was reported on Tuesday.

Pol Sen Sgt Maj Rattakan Gerdthongkham, of Donrat police station, and his wife, Supawadee Gerdthongkham, of the Rattanaburi district office, were assigned to accompany Utchareeya Homkajorn when she went to deposit 1.07 million baht at a bank as a loan repayment on behalf of local tambon and village chiefs in the district.

They disappeared. The car the three people were traveling in, which belonged to Ms Utchareeya, was found burned out on the side of a road in Si Sa Ket province on the same day. There was a 15kg cooking gas cylinder in the incinerated vehicle.

Pol Lt Prasit Somsri, of Rattanaburi police, said Ms Utchareeya’s body was found buried behind the suspects’ house in Rattanaburi three days later.

Medical examiners on the scene said her throat had been slit and she was believed to have been dead about three days. The body was taken to Surin Hospital for further examination.

The couple’s home was locked-up when police found the victim’s body. Pol Sen Sgt Maj Rattakan, 40, Ms Supawadee, 32, and their two children were nowhere to be seen, according to a report by Thai Rath.

Police found key evidence inside the house, including a photo of the victim’s car with “good bye” written on it, two 15kg gas cylinders similar to the one found in the burned car, and items from inside a car with blood stains on them.

On questioning the missing suspects’ neighbours, police found out that the missing family is two million baht in debt.